Truck driver in fatal Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel crash had drugs and alcohol in his system, report finds

Dec. 05--The truck driver who died after crashing into a minivan and going off the side of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel in July was under the influence of alcohol and multiple drugs, according to a toxicology report from Norfolk's chief medical examiner.

Jervone Hall, 33, of Delaware, had seven drugs in his system: amphetamine, methamphetamine, cocaine, ethanol, ephedrine/pseudoephedrine, benzoylecgonine, which is a product of metabolized cocaine, and THC, the active ingredient of cannabis.

Hall had a blood alcohol content of .062, which is over the .04 legal limit for a driver of a commercial vehicle in Virginia. The amount of meth in his system, detailed in the toxicology report, was roughly five to six times the amount considered drugged driving in the commonwealth.

Christopher Fenner, 29, also of Delaware, was a front-seat passenger in the truck and was also killed. Both men died from drowning, police said.

Officials later found a black zippered pouch in Hall's shorts containing syringes, a broken glass pipe, a straw, green foil packaging, a cigarette lighter and a capsule with white powder, among other items. Cocaine residue was found on one of the vials.

A 2 1/2 -page police narrative along with an autopsy and toxicology report provide the most detailed account since the crash.

It happened in the middle of a heavy rainstorm that forced the bridge to lower its speed limit from 55 to 35 mph. Drivers were notified of the lower speeds as they passed through the toll plaza.

Bridge-tunnel police concluded that the rain was a "major factor" in the crash, along with Hall following the minivan too closely. The drugs were another factor and speed likely played a part as well, according to their report. Officials were not able to determine the exact speed the tractor-trailer was going.

Hall was driving for a trucking company called Rennie Hunt, based out of Delaware. He was hauling chicken byproducts to Waverly.

Hunt, owner of the company, told police he was not aware a passenger was in the truck with Hall, according to the incident report, which states Hunt came down to the bridge when he learned of the crash.

Attempts by Virginian-Pilot reporters to reach Hunt since the crash have been unsuccessful. A man who answered the phone for the company hung up on a reporter seeking comment Wednesday morning.

On July 27, Hall was driving southbound on the bridge-tunnel around milepost 12 behind the minivan.

A black truck, separate from Hall's, passed the van on the left, throwing water onto its windshield, the van's passengers later told police.

Around the same time, Hall ran into the back of the van, forcing it to spin into the guardrail. As the van spun, Hall's truck continued forward, went through the rail and plunged into the bay.

The vision of both Hall and the driver of the van were impaired, according to a previously-filed police report.

Police later interviewed the driver of the black truck who told them he had no knowledge of the crash. None of the four passengers inside the van was seriously hurt beyond a bleeding mouth and some cuts.

When police arrived on scene they noticed oil in the water and what appeared to be air bubbles coming up just off the bridge, the report states. A blue E-ZPass surfaced about an hour later.

Fenner's body was found in the truck cab but crews didn't find Hall's floating body until two days later.

Darnell Hall, Jervone's brother, told the Pilot in July that he was driving in another Rennie Hunt truck a few minutes behind Jervone as they crossed the 17-mile bridge-tunnel that day.

As he passed the crash scene and got to the other side of the bridge, Darnell stopped his truck and tried calling his brother's cellphone without getting an answer. He gave officials a description of his brother's truck as dive teams and police scoured the waters beneath.

Police have said that no charges will be filed.

The bridge-tunnel has filed an insurance claim against the trucking company for damages to the bridge, said Tom Anderson, a bridge-tunnel spokesman. According to the report, there was $70,000 worth of damage.

Trucking companies are required by the U.S. Department of Transportation to implement random drug testing every year.

In the medical history section of Hall's autopsy, a box is checked indicating a history of drug abuse.

The deaths mark the first on the bridge-tunnel since early 2017, when 47-year-old truck driver Joseph Chen died after crashing off the bridge and into the bay.

After Chen's crash, the Pilot reported that the bridge-tunnel had seen 14 over-the-side crashes since 1984. Eleven involved a tractor-trailer.

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